Valve



Nov. 7, 1944. c. ANDERSON VALVE Filed Nov. 6, 1942 a Mg W V W PatentedNov. 7, 1944 I UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE VALVE Lawrence C. Anderson,Chicago. Ill., assignor to Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company,Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application November .6, 1942,Serial No. 464,815

2 Claims.

Because of the great strides that have been made in the field of .airconditioning, the public in general has become air conditioningconscious. It expects idealv temperature conditions and is adjusting thetemperature of operation of the heat control valve; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a modified form of thermostatic controlmeans for operating the control valve shown in Fig. 1.

This is a continuation in part of applicant's copending application Ser.No. 428,153, filed January 26, 1942.

Referring to Fig. 1, the heating valve, known as a'modulating heatingvalve, is shown generally at 25, and comprises a housing 23 made up ofsegments 23a, 23b, and 230 forming three separate chambers indicated at30, 3|, and 32, respectively. Chambers 30 and 3| are separated by acritical if the existing conditions fail to meet its partition 33, andchambers 3| and 32 are sepastandards. rated by a wall or partition 34.Passing through V This has been particularly true in railroad pastheouter wall of the valve housing into the chamsenger car service. Therailroads in-the past few I ber 3| is an inlet pipe. 23, and passingthrough years have been very active in air conditioning the wall of thevalve housing and exhausting from their equipment, and a large amount ofpublicity l0 chamber 321s an outlet pipe 21. has been given to thisdevelopment. The travel- I In chamber 32 is bellows 33 ofcopper or otherling public expects to be comfortableat all times suitable material,soldered or otherwise secured while riding in modern passenger carequipment. to the' end wall 36-01 the valve housing 23. As It falls tounderstand the vdifiiculties which have shown, the bellows is made upof-a side member confronted engineers, and, when temperature 35' and .anen Pl 4 r d Otherwise conditions are not what it thinks they should be,secured to the side member 35.. A second belits criticisms are many.lows- 3'! is housed partly-in chamber 33 and'partly The problems whichhave confronted the air in chamber 3|, andpasses through thepartitionconditioning engineers are unique in so far as or wall 33 separatingthese two chambers. The they relate to moving vehicles. One of thesebellows 31 as shown comprises aside member'3l' Problems is the eiiectwhich changes in'atmosand end pl n r specti e m'soldered phericpressures haveon the operation of heat or otherwise secured to the sidemember 31'. control valves. These changes in pressure have Copper tubes38" and 33, passing respectively a direct eflect upon the criticaltcmperaturesof v through end wall Miami plate .43, provide accessoperation of the heat control valves, and'i'n some to the interior ofbel1ows-33' and 31', respecinstances these critical temperatures havevaried tively, to permit evacuation of air and gases from as much asfour degrees or more due to barometwithin the bellows, and the tubes arepinched ric pressure changes. This condition, of course, closed afterthe air has been exhausted and the is very objectionable, because itmeans the difbellows 35 has been filled with oil, as will presferencebetween satisfactory and unsatisfactory ently be described. temperatureconditions in the car. Bellows portion 31 is exposed to the tempera- Oneof the principal objects of the present inture of the medium passingthrough chamber 3|. vention is to provide a relatively simple, highlyUnless the air is exhausted from bellows 31, the efllcient control valvefor a heating system, and operation of the valve may be affected bytemone which is readily adjustable and is unaffected 3.", peraturechanges in chamber 3|, causing expanby changes in atmospheric pressures.sion and contraction of any air in the bellows 31. Other objects andadvantages will become ap- Extending between the plates 4| and 42 onparent as the disclosure proceeds and the descripbellows and 31,respectively, is a rod passing tion is read in conjunction with thefollowing through an opening or passage in the wall 34. drawing, i h h4o This rod is firmly secured to the plates 4| and Fig. 1 is a verticalsectional view through the 42. A valve member 43 is carried by the rod40 valve and control thermostat forming the subject and is integraltherewith. This valve is tapered matter of the present invention; and isadapted to fit into a valve seat 44 in the Fig. 2 is an end view of thecontrol thermostat passage 45, thereby closing off the passage beshownin Fig. 1 indicating the regulating dial for 45 tween chambers 3| and32,

A spring 46 is housed within bellows 31 to connect mechanically theplate 42 to plate 48. A manually operated regulating screw 41 having ashank 43 passes through the housing 23 and en-v gages the plate 43. Asuitable bushing surrounds the shank 49 of the adjusting screw. 41, andis threaded or otherwisesecured to a boss 50' projecting fromtheend'wall of the valve casing 23.

As shown-the valve .housing 23 is madeup of this opening and is solderedin place. A bellows 51 is soldered to the cover and extends inwardly inthe housing 53. The ends of bellows 54 and 51 as shown constitute plates54 and 51', respectively. An adjusting screw 59 engages the face ofplate 51' to regulate the degree of expansion of bellows 57, and acompression spring 58 extends between plate 57' and the end wall 55 ofhousing 53. This spring urges the bellows into a contracted positionopposin the force exerted by the screw 59, thus resisting any tendencyfor the bellows to expand due to increases in pressure inside bellows51. This is to compensate for any increase in atmospheric pressureswhich may be encountered.

Extending between the thermostatic element 52 and the modulating valve25 is a tube 60 communicating with the interiors of bellows 54 and 35.and a cylindrical tube BI is positioned inside bellows 35 over the endof tube 60. Annor tubing 50' surrounds tubing 60.

Some suitable operating medium. such as light oil, fills bellows 54 and35 and tube 50 to im art movement to valve 43 in response to therequirements of the thermostat 52. This medium is preferably a liouidhaving a low freezing point so that the tube 50 may be placed underneaththe car without danger oi freezin the liquid in cold weather. Liouidalso has the advanta e over a gas because there is no appreciableexpansion or contraction of the medium due to the temperature changes towhich it will be exposed under normal o eratin conditions.

The thermostatic element 52 is manually adjusted to operate at apredetermined temperature,

say. for example. '74 de rees. This is done by manipulation of theadiustment screw 59. which moves plate 51' and finally bellows 54through a spring secured between plates 51' and 54'.

'In other words. the force or resistance exerted by SOIlXlE 46 is equalto the combined resistance of sprin I58 and-the ressure o the volatileliquid in. the thermostatic element 52.

when initially adjustin the location of valve member 43. both screws 41and 59 are manipulated so that the entire svstem is placed in a state ofequilibrium. These adjustments can be made without disturbin the vacuumsin those elements normally under vacuum, and when the adjustment iscomplete the system is extremely sensitive to slight changes intemperatures surrounding the thermostatic element 52.

The springs 45 and I58 are so proportioned that the resistances exertedon both sides of the floating valve 43 are balanced.

The thermostatic element 52 is filled with a volatile liquid, as, forexample, ethyl or methyl chloride, which volatilizes at a relatively lowtemperature.

The modulating heat valve 25 functions as follows: As the temperature inthe space to be heated drops below 74 degrees, the vapor in housing 53of the thermostatic element 52 contracts, thereby allowing bellows 54 toexpand. A light i is contained within the bellows 54, tube 30, andbellows 35, so that, as the bellows 54 expands, the pressure on this oilis lowered, thereby permitting the force of spring 40 in the modulatingheat valve 25 to force valve member 43 away from the valve seat 44 toopen the passage between chambers 3| and 32. The valve member 43 ismoved with respect to valve seat 44 until the system is again placed ina state of equilibrium. Consequently, the valve opening may be entirelyclosed or opened to any degree, depending upon pressure conditionswithin the housing 53 of the thermostatic element 52. Thus, the actionof the modulating heat valve 25 is a throttling action and'not a mereopen-and-close action. When the temperature of the space to be heatedreaches '74 degrees, the vapor pressure within housing 53 increases tocontract bellows 54, thereby closing the passage between chambers 3i and32 of the modulating heat valve 25.

As shown in Fig. 1, the thermostatic element 52 has a manual adjustmentfeature for regulating the temperature of operation of the thermostat.The adjusting screw 41 is merely for adjusting the valve to initiallyset the system for proper operation, and for later adjusting purposes. areservoir I04 as the thermostatic element housing a .volatile liquid foroperating the bellows 35. In this case, a tube I05 connects thereservoir I04 with the interior or bellows 35 in the same manner asindicated in Fig. 1. Variations in temperature conditions of the spacesurrounding reservoir I04 changes thevolume of the gas in the reservoirto alter the pressure within the bellows 35; and, in this manner, themodulatin heat valve 25 is controlled. The adjusting screw 41 is used inthis instance to vary the temperature of operation of the thermostaticelement I04.

It has been found that changes in atmospheric pressures can have a verydecided effect on the operation of valves, and this is particularly truein railway car installations where cars may be operating at sea level ora mile or more above sea level. These variations in atmosphericpressures can affect the temperature of operation of the systems as muchas four degrees or more, which in most instances is the differencebetween comfortable and uncomfortable temperature conditions. Thepresent invention, however, entirely overcomes this difficulty becausescrew 58 and spring 58 overcome any atmospheric pressure changes inbellows 51, and a spring I59 placed between plate 48 and partition 33,together with screw 41, resists variations in pressure in chamber 30.Chamber 30 may be vented. as at I50, to prevent high pressures frombuilding up in the chamber due to high temperatures which may develop.Bellows 51 may also be vented, if desired, as at IBI. Spring 46 issealed in bellows 31 with the air exhausted from the bellows interior sothat temperature changes in chambers 30 and 3| in no way affect theoperation of valve 43. Thus, the valve member 43 is a floating membermoving primarily between the force of the spring on the one hand and theforce of the gas or oil on the other hand; and this gas or oil pressurevaries directly with the change in temperatures surrounding thethermostatic element, whether it be of the type shown in Fig. 1 or areservoir I04, as shown in Fig. 2. Atmospheric pressures cannot affectthe forces on either side of the movable valve member 43. Consequently,the action of the heating system is It may be desirable, however, to usethe same, irrespective of the atmospheric pressure changes.

Specific embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed forthe purpose of illustration in compliance with the statutes. Manymodifications, of course, may be made without departing from the scopeand spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A modulating heat valve unit for a heating system comprising a closedvalve casing, three chambers in the casing arranged with two endchambers and an intermediate chamber, a passage through the outer wallinto the intermediate chamber, a passage through the outer wall into oneend chamber, a communicating passage in the wall between the last twomentioned chambers, a movable valve member adapted to open and close thecommunicating passage, thermostatic responsive means operativelyconnected to the valve urging the valve member toward its closedposition, the intermediate chamber and the end chamber opposite to thelast mentioned end chamber being separated by a wall having an openingtherein, a spring passing from the intermediate chamber through the saidopening into the last mentioned end chamber, a closed bellows having airexhausted therefrom completely surrounding the spring and sealed aroundthe opening in the separating wall so as to seal the end chamber fromthe intermediate chamber, means for operatively connecting the spring tothe valve member so as to urge the valve member toward its openposition, a spring in the last mentioned end chamber seated against thewall separating the intermediate and end chambers and connected to thefree end of'the first spring and opposing atmospheric pressure increasesin the said end chamber, and manual adjusting means for adjusting thecompression in the first mentioned spring.

2. A valve unitfor a closed system comprising a housing having anintermediate and two end chambers therein, the intermediate and one endchamber being sealed from the atmosphere, an inlet passage through thewall of the housing into the intermediate chamber, a discharge passagethrough the wall of the housing in the sealed end chamber, a controlledpassage in the wall separating the intermediate and sealed end chambers,a valve adapted to open and close said controlled passage, actuatingbellows in the sealed chamber operatively connected to the valve, athermostat, an operating medium in the bellows responsive to thethermostat for moving 20 the valve relative to the controlled passage, a

compression spring in the intermediate chamber extending into the endchamber opposite to the sealed end chamber, bellows surrounding thespring and sealed against the wall separating 5 the last mentioned twochambers, the air from the last mentioned bellows being exhausted, thespring at one end being operatively connected to the valve on the sideopposite to the actuating bellows, an adjustable spring seat on theother 30 end of the spring, manual adjusting means engaging the springseat to regulate its position and accessible at all times from the valvehousing exterior, and means associated with the spring seat for fixingthe position of the seat irrespec- 35 tive of pressure changes in thechamber.

LAWRENCE C. ANDERSON.

